Giving back to the community each year is high priority to Premiere Dance Hillsborough (Premiere). For the third year in a row, Premiere dancers participated in a community wide fundraising effort to raise awareness and funds for the Embrace Kids Foundation who’s mission is to lighten the burden, maintain normalcy and improve the quality of life for families whose children are facing cancer, sickle cell and other serious health challenges.
Together with family and friends, the Premiere Dancers raised about $7,000 which will be used to support the New Brunswick NJ based foundation’s programs, services and Grant program.
They also hosted a 4-hour dance marathon on Saturday, February 11, 2017, with the dancers participating in non-stop dancing and other activities shoulder to shoulder with patients, to show their commitment and support of Embrace Kids Foundation families. The marathon kicked off with a visit from the 2 of the foundation’s families explaining how Embrace Kids has helped them and their families like theirs, survive, and even thrive, when facing childhood cancer.
Rutgers students from RUDM also attended the marathon and taught Premiere dancers a dance that they will perform at the Rutgers Dance Marathon held later in March.
Premiere Dance Director Michelle Cunningham, along with assistant directors Lisa Burton, Allie Nagy, and Corinna Ahart kept the dancers, who ranged in age from 5 to 17, on their feet for the four hours with a mix of line dances and games, including limbo and glow in the dark freeze dance. At the start of the night, dancers received coupons to “cash” in, if needed, for cell phone breaks or rest time. Not one dancer turned in a coupon! At the end of the night, the coupons were raffled off for prizes.
“I think it’s wonderful to see our dancers come together for an organization as worthwhile as Embrace Kids,” said parent Andrea Wolkofsky. “For our dancers to be able to spend the evening dancing with patient families–getting to know them, hearing their stories–it’s really impactful. It’s something our dancers will remember. And I hope they will feel empowered to use their dancing in other creative ways.” Wolkofsky said.
Premiere dancers are already looking forward to making next year’s Premiere fundraising event even bigger.
Embrace Kids Foundation exists to lighten the burden and improve the quality of life for children with cancer, sickle cell and other serious disorders in the New Jersey/New York City metropolitan area. For more information visit www.embracekids.org.
